Rain forces a draw in potential thriller between Jaguars and Pride
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Rain forced a premature end to a promising climax between Guyana Jaguars and Barbados Pride on the fourth day of their fourth-round, day/night game in the Regional Four-Day Championship at the Guyana National Stadium here Monday.
Jaguars, resuming the day on 32 for two, suffered a sensational batting meltdown in their second innings to be all out for 139, setting Pride a winning target of 161.
Off-spinner Royston Chase and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican grabbed four wickets each to be the main destroyers of Guyana’s innings.
Pride started the chase poorly as hostile opening spells from Keon Joseph and Raymond Reifer reduced them to 23 for three before the rain chased the players off the field.
Guyana’s batting meltdown occurred in the morning session as they struggled to negotiate the spin duo of Chase and Warrican, who finished with four for 41 and four for 12, respectively.
The reigning champions were at one stage 79 for the loss of three wickets before losing their remaining seven wickets for only 58 runs.
Former West Indies Under-19 Captain Shimron Hetmyer top-scored with an aggressive 67, his third half-century, smashing nine fours and a six in his 126 minutes occupation of the crease.
For over an hour at the start of the morning session, Hetmyer and Gudakesh Motie steered the innings by adding 47 runs.
Hetmyer, 19, was a bit severe on Kemar Roach by hitting him for several boundaries through the extra cover region.
Pride pressed home the advantage at the demise of Hetmyer, who was removed by Warrican, as their spin duo took complete control by exploiting bounce and turn from the pitch.
Only three other batsmen survived the spin attack long enough to get into double figures — Leon Johnson 13, Vishual Singh 12, and Motie 10.
As a potentially gripping chase loomed, Jaguars struck early, with Reifer capturing two for 13 and Joseph one for 12, restricting Pride to 23 for three when the rain came.